In early March, a protest was held at the gate of Xiang-He Hoggery as a way of asking for pollution alleviation and closing down the facility. The Environmental Protection Bureau immediately undertook a 24-hour secret investigation in response. It was hoped that the government’s enforcement and the public voice from neighbors could effectively force the owner to improve the sewage discharge, and promise that the hoggery would be closed until the pollution and stinkiness had been appropriately resolved. No pigs are being raised for the time being.

　A total of 18 investigations were carried out for the enforcement. On March 14th, sewage treatment negligence that led to water body pollution was found, eliciting a crackdown, and on March 19th, discharged water was sampled, with the test result showing non-compliance with water discharge standards. Both acts were penalized in accordance with the Environmental Protection Administration’s amended Water Pollution Protection Act promulgated this year, with the former involving a penalty of a maximum of NTD 6 million, and the latter, a penalty of a maximum of NTD 600,000. This is Yunlin County’s first case to impose penalties and suspend livestock raising by the amended act due to illegal water discharge and relevant environmental pollution reasons.